chilledbear

If we are struggling for midfielders recall the lad Thomson from RR.

.@RangersFC XI: Foderingham, Hodson, Kiernan, Hill, Wallace; Halliday, Holt, Miller, McKay, Garner, O'Halloran

Tavs dropped according to twitter

The problem as I see it with any team we pick and we can flood the midfield, is that none of them can tackle. We are powder puff in that department and it needs seen to in January as much as going forward.

Ibrox will not be a happy place if we lose tomorrow. The players have to be ready for a battle.

It's like our football, boring.

We need to start winning games against teams in the top half of the table. The problem may be, it has to be done any old how, fight, passion, grind them out as long as the points come. Will MW resort to this? Can the team do this? Has MW the gumption to change?

Just seem to be going backward.

You could be right Neil.

This and Saturday is what the SPL is all about this season. Huge pressure if we fail, confidence sky high with success.

My worry is the system MW plays, one he tweeks but doesn't stray far from. I would have thought the signings should have been players who would fit the system, instead they are being asked to play different from their usual game. Especially MOH and Garner.

Best pundit in Scotland by a mile.

FORMER Rangers star Neil McCann has accused Mark Warburton of squandering his Rangers summer transfer budget. The Ibrox boss’ recruits were also criticised by McCann, who reckons they have failed to make the desired impact since arriving at Ibrox in pre-season. More than £2million was spent during the summer with a total of 11 players coming in, including £1.8m on Joe Garner joining the likes of Philippe Senderos, Niko Kranjcar and Clint Hill at Murray Park. However, few have caught the eye in the Ladbrokes Premiership with marquee signing Joey Barton already having departed following a stormy short spell at the club. McCann believes the Rangers transfer kitty was spent poorly as Rangers have fallen way of the top-flight pace to runaway leaders Celtic. He said: “Of course you are judged on your signings. And then it is about trust. If you are giving money out are you going to trust your manager to spend wisely? “[Matt] Crooks and [Jordan] Rossiter can be forgiven because of injuries. That is really unlucky and I actually think Rossiter is a good young player who will be a saleable asset. “As for Crooks, I have spoken to a couple of people who say him and [Josh] Windass have lots to offer. So they have been unlucky there. “Barton was an absolute disaster and I’ve said my piece on that. I think it was handled really badly. “Kranjcar was nowhere near fit when he came from Cosmos. He was miles off the pace of the Scottish game. He was just starting to find it then he gets this horrible injury. So he’s gone. “Senderos? What’s happened to him? I think there will be questions asked on recruitment and if you don’t have a lot of money to play with – albeit it’s quite a lot compared with everyone else in the league – you have to hope your manager spends it right. “It hasn’t been – and I’m not speaking out of turn. It’s not worked because the boys haven’t made an impact on the pitch. “It remains to be seen whether he is given some more. I’d imagine it’s moving people on to get people in.” Barton was of course the most high profile recruit but one of the most frustrating players to come in has been that of former Preston striker Garner. The 28-year-old has only managed to score three goals in 15 games during his time in Glasgow, with him being substituted off after just an hour in Saturday’s narrow 2-1 win over Partick Thistle. However, McCann was reluctant to blame the out-of-sorts forward for his poor return, instead questioning Warburton’s judgment for bringing him in to an unfamiliar system in the first place. He said: “I’ve watched him at Preston, he scored all manner of goals and a lot of them were crosses into the box. “He said himself he wasn’t used to this style of football, but when you’re spending the lion’s share of your budget on someone who’s not used to that’s style of football, you question the player on why he’s come, has he been told it’ll be different and you question the manager on what his style is if he’s bringing a guy like that in. “It’s as if Joe’s in the wrong movie.” http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14934001.Mark_Warburton_has_squandered_summer_transfer_kitty_on_duff_signings__says_former_Rangers_star_Neil_McCann/?ref=twtrec

Any updates after the weekend?

That makes it even worse, I wonder who got to him. ££££££££'s

Even in England they are not up to much when it comes to these kind of cases. We were never going to get justice, I would be surprised if anyone gets punished for what happened to Rangers.

However the price came down, if it helped get rid of the previous lot, it was welcome.

There's talk of dinners and who appears :cheers:

OFFICIAL: AEK Athens have confirmed that Joleon Lescott's contract with the club has been terminated. There you go, our transfer business could have been even worse.

LAST week saw a Rangers Academy side travel to England’s south coast to take on a Southampton Academy team – and coach Billy Kirkwood was delighted with how it went. The Saints’ are renowned for having produced a number of top-class players over the years such as Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but the young Gers more than matched them at their world-class Staplewood training complex. The game was played as the Rangers Academy strive to give the youngsters at Auchenhowie as many different and difficult challenges as possible, and speaking to this week’s Official Rangers Podcast, coach Kirkwood branded the trip a massive success, with the Light Blues coming back north with a 0-0 draw. He explained: “The whole day was fantastic and it was an adventure. The boys were here early in the morning and were a bit out of their comfort zone preparing for a game at an elite academy – one of the top academies in England, and it was good they were disrupted in terms of their preparation. “They were here for 6am to travel to the airport, and then they were flying to a game rather than sitting on a bus to go to the likes of Aberdeen, Inverness or Ross County. So they flew down, were picked up on the bus at the other end, and their eating habits were disrupted too so we had to get around that. “So we went on to Southampton and it was about 30-40 minutes on the bus, and it was a lovely day, the pitches were great, the facilities were great and the people were fantastic. They really welcomed us with open arms and I think the lads even got a lift from all of that with it being a different preparation to what we are used to for a match. “We had a group of boys who were a mixture of under-16s, 17s and a few 18s, and they all really enjoyed their day. I said to them at half time when they came in that they all really looked like they were enjoying it and it was something different with them maybe not having come up against these sorts of players before. “That’s the kind of education we want for this Academy, and yes, he reality is we had to come back and play Partick Thistle at the weekend which was a really tough game in a difficult environment, but the more we test them in terms of that kind of football and also the elite systems other clubs play, then I think we will be giving our lads a better education to become a first-team player here at Rangers. “I think overall it was a very positive day out for the players, but I’ve also got to say for the staff as well. It’s pleasing that we were going there not knowing what we were going to come up against and testing yourself with all the different aspects – eating properly, rehydrating properly and preparing properly for the game, and actually playing exceptionally well within the game. “It gave everyone a good lift as all the good work gets hidden behind the scenes with the physios and sports scientists etc., and our lads stood up to the task very, very well.” Kirkwood believed his young Gers more than matched their Premier League opponents, and he revealed the Saints’ staff were full of praise for ‘Gers style of play. “I think on the football pitch we certainly did. We played very well, and played the open, expansive game the Gaffer wants us to play – the 4-3-3. Southampton played their normal football which was building from the back and if it wasn’t on, they played the old-fashioned English way where they quartered the pitch and played the ball long. “It was a great education for our lads against a different style, and the Southampton staff were really delighted that we had come down and played the way we did as they don’t always get that test as well. “So it was pleasing in every aspect, both for the players and for the backroom staff as well.” http://rng.rs/2fFOZjX

The chairman and his directors are seeking to dilute the influence of Mike Ashley and James and Sandy Easdale through the adoption of a special resolution, number 11 on the notice of the agm. In short, the current board need 75 per cent of all votes cast to push through a proposal that will give them the right to hold a rights issue within the next 12 months. Significantly, however, if Resolution 11 is passed they will hold control over the direction of the allotment of any future shares. You don’t need to be Gordon Gekko to know they won’t be knocking on the doors of McGill’s Buses or Sports Direct asking if they want to maintain their current level of interest in Rangers International. There are approximately 81 million Rangers shares currently in issue, trading at around 28 pence, and the Ashley-Easdale alliance accounts for around 16 per cent. If Resolution 11 is passed, Rangers have 12 months to go to market with a new issue. It is likely to be the offer of another 81 million that, at around 25 pence a share, could raise £20 million. Up to £14 million of that is already accounted for in shareholder loans from the likes of King and the Three Bears - Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor - who are likely to convert at least some of the debt to equity. Rangers are keen to reduce the boardroom influence of Ashley and the Easdales by half, not least as their percentage powerbase gives little flexibility when it comes to key votes. Resolution 11 is a prime example, with the margin for error so slim it was defeated at last year’s agm by just one per cent. Around 10 per cent of Rangers shares, held by the shadowy Blue Pitch and Margarita Holdings, are currently disallowed. In recent times Rangers have enjoyed one of the highest shareholder engagements in British business, but still around 10 per cent of fans are gripped by apathy when it comes to voting. In total, that knocks approximately 16 million shares out of the pot - and with Ashley and the Easdales then in control of 20 per cent of the remaining 65 million, it leaves them with just five per cent to find to defeat the resolution. The Rangers board were caught by surprise last year when River and Mercantile, who own just over five per cent of the company, voted in favour of Dave King and Co when they were expected to side with Ashley. If they continue to back the current board, the position of minority shareholders becomes even more vital, which is why there has been vigorous lobbying for support behind the scenes by Rangers directors in recent weeks. In any case, Rangers have the security of Resolution 10, which requires only 50 per cent of all votes cast to give the go ahead for a new shares issues before the end of 2017. However, under its terms, it would only be open to existing shareholders, giving Ashley and the Easdales the chance to maintain their current level of stock. In the last two years, Rangers have relied on every penny of investment from the current board to keep them in business - they’ll have pumped in £3.75 million this season alone in loans to keep the doors open. Much of that money has gone towards servicing historic debts, inherited from the discredited former regime, and the club are inching closer to break even with future estimates of season-by-season top ups currently running at £1 million. Rangers are nowhere near ready to approach the market at large with a major share issue and even if Resolution 11 is successful new stock is likely to be offered to Ibrox fans primarily. Rangers will only ever be attractive to institutional investors once the controversies around their commercial relationship with Ashley and ongoing legal issues involving former directors are resolved, which could be several years in the future. Until then, they will continue to rely on shareholders with Rangers sympathies to underpin the entire operation on Edmiston Drive. In the coming seasons, King and his fellow investors may feel the need to loan further sums if the pace of change on the pitch remains sluggish. The pressure is on Warburton, not just to deliver a meaningful challenge to Celtic - the reigning champs look increasingly out of sight - but Europa League group stage football that might boost the bottom line. The dream double for Rangers going forward? Resolution 11 off the park and a more resolute 11 on it. In any case, Rangers have the security of Resolution 10, which requires only 50 per cent of all votes cast to give the go ahead for a new shares issues before the end of 2017. However, under its terms, it would only be open to existing shareholders, giving Ashley and the Easdales the chance to maintain their current level of stock. In the last two years, Rangers have relied on every penny of investment from the current board to keep them in business - they’ll have pumped in £3.75 million this season alone in loans to keep the doors open. Much of that money has gone towards servicing historic debts, inherited from the discredited former regime, and the club are inching closer to break even with future estimates of season-by-season top ups currently running at £1 million. Rangers are nowhere near ready to approach the market at large with a major share issue and even if Resolution 11 is successful new stock is likely to be offered to Ibrox fans primarily. Rangers will only ever be attractive to institutional investors once the controversies around their commercial relationship with Ashley and ongoing legal issues involving former directors are resolved, which could be several years in the future. Until then, they will continue to rely on shareholders with Rangers sympathies to underpin the entire operation on Edmiston Drive. In the coming seasons, King and his fellow investors may feel the need to loan further sums if the pace of change on the pitch remains sluggish. The pressure is on Warburton, not just to deliver a meaningful challenge to Celtic - the reigning champs look increasingly out of sight - but Europa League group stage football that might boost the bottom line. The dream double for Rangers going forward? Resolution 11 off the park and a more resolute 11 on it. http://shr.gs/q5az

'See these Bears who back up Ashley and the Easdales, do they ever give their rationale i.e. what good they are doing for Rangers? Genuine question.' They hate certain people and Groups more than they love Rangers.

All Companies Somers has a position with. Why do these people constantly get away with this!! Makes my blood boil.

Encor Power Ltd Zenith Bank UK Europe Arab Bank plc Fujitsu Technologies Pension Fund I wonder if aforementioned Companies read the Record.

Teams that are set up just to defend must be one of the most frustrating experiences watching a match. It reminds me of European games at Ibrox before the rule of the away goal counting double. Despite the many good players we had, midfield and up front, we still couldn't penetrate them very often. It was always the call to get somebody with guile, to create the pass that would open the defence up, I think Krankjar was supposed to be that player. Perhaps we will try for someone else in January. Can anyone explain the substitution of Windass ?